overheard at home in westchester…

an actual conversation that my parents had about me (while i stood next to them) over memorial day weekend:

DAD: i think c-low has gained a little weight…he looks a little bit… just bigger
MOM: i guess… c-low’s face looks a bit more filled out…

a few moments of silence as if there was an agreement. 

MOM: … but I wouldn’t know because i never see him!!!

(cue me speechless and puzzled looking in the mirror for 5 minutes… damn my mom can really lay the guilt on!)

david wright & 50-cent = savvy business man

hmmm… with coca-cola’s recent acquisition of Glaceau for $4.1 billion – the beverage giant has shown a slight change in strategic direction (which may or may not be too little too late). coke has been long viewed as a conservatively run business and watched as its competitors have quickly become more diversified companies and more capable of challenging the venerable coca-cola brand as it has lost its luster.

even more awesome-r than a large acquisition is the fact that Glaceau, as a queens born and bred company has some interesting investors all of whom stand to make a whole lot of money. among them are mets 3rd baseman and genuine cool dude, david wright, and 50-cent – who both were prescient enough to take stakes in the company in exchange for endorsement/marketing deals. so what do they stand to make on this deal? well wright only had a a measly .5% stake in the company while 50-cent had a 10% stake… do that math and you got it: wright can make up to $20 million and 50-cent up to $400 million.

uh-huh, that’s right. ridiculous.

btw, if you were wondering my favorite flavor was “rescue” the green tea one. i used to like the orange flavored one, but after drinking 4-5 vitamin water’s a day everyday for a summer i got extremely sick and stopped drinking them. now i stick to glaceau’s less sugary offerings like Smart Water.

c-low the bibliophile, volume 2

i’ve been slacking with updates on c-low (the bibliophile)’s progress with Milan Kundera’s The Unbearable Lightness of Being… i think part of it was just laziness and the other part being that after reading it, i kept going back and re-reading parts.

the book undoubtedly starts slowing in its pace, but the quality does not wane – it simply follows form and the natural progression of the story… it ends with a whimper that echo’s loudly with optimism. while i started to write a lot more about the ending, i’ll refrain, only stating that the novel was by far one of the best i’ve read (so thank you m-rod).

while the book at times is very intimidating with its philosophical musings Kundera is good about explaining it in many different ways – either blatantly by talking to the reader or by having it manifest itself through the story or even better having the reader feel it.

so with this book firmly under my belt i decided i needed something a little more… well real… so i chose Ghost Soldiers by Hampton Sides. It is the true story of a little-known WWII jailbreak in which 121 Army Rangers rescued 500 POW’s who were “languishing” in a japanese camp in the Philippines (word up!)… and with that i’m about to venture into heroism and war… wish me luck and i’ll let you know how it goes.

an nyc guide about you and for you…

while many things are getting the web 2.0 treatment these days… i’ve always been a bit displeased with city guides and the like (nymag, citysearch, and such). while they place a lot of social planning power at your fingertips and generally have some relevant editorial content, there is a lack of “tribal-ness”… meaning it’s still at the power of the user rather than edited to your preferences….

while the jury’s still out…this caught my eye (when benny from south africa emailed me it):

www.wordofmouse.com is a new city guide arranged by group that you best identify with, like who you are and what you’re interested in (kind of)… meaning it’s done by curators of cool. what’s great about it is content organized with a tribal/taste type of thing and it’s cool in that it helps if say you have a guest in town who has different taste than you… what’s bad is that i can’t really say i can identify with any of these groups.

i’m interested to see the next generation of social networking sites that really takes your online profile and turns it into a hybrid of sorts with a guide to offline real social activities…

a few youtube gems to pass the time…

classic joke… great delivery.

speechless the first time i saw this, thanks Erin.

great diet pepsi commercial… 90210 reference #2 today!!!

AND LAST BUT NOT THE VERY LEAST, i present to you the youtube clip of the week:

yup, and these guys are up 10 games on the Yankees… i don’t know what’s funnier: manny petting julian or the commentators laughing uncontrollably at the end.

this is scary and awesome at the same time… scaresome.

as forwarded to me by ALS from this blog… here’s the text:

“Yangcheng Evening Post reports that 95 year old Granny Zhao of China first spotted a mole on her forehead three years ago. It’s since grown into the pumpkin husk like shape you see above.

Granny Zhao says it causes her no discomfort and only blocks part of her vision. It doesn’t really bother her and she basically pays it no mind. Her family, on the other hand, is hoping that medical experts can explain what the fuck it is.”

YUP, that’s about right.

it’s not a party without pate?

been working quite a lot and traveling on business the past few days, so my blog entry production has hit rockbottom, but fear not i have plenty of posts with some great content ready (i’ve been storing up the fun stuff people have been emailing me).

so let’s just do a quick wrap-up/run down of what’s going on… catch up to speed with a fun game of “am i looking forward to…”

• riding around in one of these this summer? ummm yes.
• Roger Clemens coming back to play for the Yankees? yes, i love the drama.
  • …it not really mattering because they are 8 10 games back of the Red Sox (who are on fire and i don’t quite get how) and 4 games under .500? nope.
• Daft Punk with The Rapture at Coney Island this summer? Ummm, heck yea?!
• playing soccer in Prospect Park? yup.
  • hurting myself after not doing any physical activity for about 6 months? bring it on!
• San Diego and the OC in August? What up Sammy!!!!

the heel press.

www.heelpress.com

go.

on shaving time off of the commute…

A recent study shows that New Yorkers only rank 8th in Walking Speed… i find that hard to believe, they better have made sure that the people they were “clocking” weren’t tourists stopping to look up at the tall buildings.

anyhoo, anyone who travels with me via subway knows that i practice the ancient time-saving art of knowing exactly where to stand for optimal entrance or exit in order to get to the desired entrance or exit or transfer location.

For example, at the stop i get off of for work the best exit for me is at the far rear of the train, so i walk to the far end of the train where i get on. Another example, the L-train to the 1 train transfer at 7th Ave is only available at the front end of the train (third car to be exact)… My personal favorite is using marks to know exactly the best position, like the second subway map at the Atlantic-Pacific stop is perfect for the exit at my stop…

now i may have naysayers and the likes, sometimes they make somewhat good arguments… but regardless even if 9 of 10 times it doesn’t make any real difference, but there’s that one time (coupled with my fast walking speed) where that strategic placement means i just catch the 1 train heading uptown at 14th street i wouldn’t have caught if i was elsewhere. through my times in the city i think have now developed 3-d maps of subway stations all over the city… “it’s boring i know, but it’s my life…”

It’s like playing the infield in with a runner in scoring position, sometimes it doesn’t work, sometimes it completely backfires, but when it does work and you save a game with that alignment… it’s totally worth it.

“he’s got it under control…”

enough said.